On politics in the Golden State

Details of Roy Ashburn's DUI arrest released

March 5, 2010 | 12:45
pm

State Sen. Roy Ashburn’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.14%, well beyond the 0.08 needed for charges, after his arrest Wednesday on suspicion of drunk driving near the state Capitol, according to new details released by prosecutors.

The Republican lawmaker from Bakersfield was pulled over at 2:10 a.m. after California Highway Patrol officers saw his car "making several brake applications without debris or traffic in the path of the vehicle" and "straddling" two lanes in the street, according to a probable cause declaration filed as part of the district attorney’s misdemeanor complaint.

Officers followed Ashburn and finally pulled him over after he stopped to make a right turn "for approximately 1 minute without any cross traffic," according to the declaration by Officer R. Gomez.

Ashburn missed Thursday’s Senate session, having taken personal leave at least through this weekend, and "there is no date when he will come back" to work, said spokesman Noel Libang.

Ashburn was arrested driving his state-owned car, which has since been impounded in the state garage. Records show that Ashburn was involved in a car accident with the 2007 Chevy Tahoe nearly seven months ago, on Aug. 26. The senator was exiting the 50 Freeway at Stockton Boulevard at 8:30 a.m. that day when his car rear-ended another car that had stopped at a traffic light, said Eric Lamoureux, a spokesman for the state Department of General Services.

There were no injuries, but the state ended up paying the other driver $4,512 for damages and loss of use of his vehicle, and spent an additional $1,509 fixing Ashburn’s car, Lamoureux said. The state has not released the accident report.